The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen Copyright © Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang 2016 Some Rights Reserved.

First Edition, Web Export.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Publisher: Sutajio Ko-Usagi PTE LTD dba Kosagi, in Singapore. [email protected]

Editor: Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang Design and Layout: Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang Translations: Celia Wang Translation errors: Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang Illustrations: Miran Lipovača

Printed in the People’s Republic of China.

ISBN 978-981-09-7459-6

To Gavin Zhao

For opening my eyes to the real China. You have been a great teacher and mentor; I can do now what I once thought was impossible.

I hope you win your battle with cancer, so that you can continue to mentor and inspire more people like me. 5

Contents

Introduction 7 Why Point to Translate instead of Phonetic? 9 Using the Guide 10 About Technical Chinese 11 What’s in the Market (And What’s Not) 12 Pricing the Market and Haggling 14 Is it Fake? 15 Hours & When to Go 18 Internet & Helpful Apps 19 Tipping 20 Weather & Dressing 20

Point-to-Translate Guide: Components 23

Point-to-Translate Guide: Tools & Tooling 45

Point-to-Translate Guide: Sealing the Deal 55

Point-to-Translate Guide: Getting Around 67

Getting To Shenzhen, and Back Again 83 Visas 84 Getting to the Border 85 Which Border Crossing to Use? 87 Time-Saving Tips for Crossing the Border 90 China Customs 91

Maps 95

Acknowledgments 123 6 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 7 Introduction

Introduction

(shēn · zhèn) 8 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 9 Introduction

Hello! This book is designed to help non-Mandarin speakers navigate the sprawling electronics markets of Shenzhen. The markets are locally referred to as the Hua Qiang Bei (HQB) markets, after the road that runs through the heart of the market.

The concept behind this book is to provide a “point-to- translate” interaction that is structured according to a typical transaction in the market:

1. Specifying components 2. Specifying quantity and packaging 3. Payment and delivery 4. Remembering the vendor’s location

The book also includes sections on what to expect, basic survival, and getting around. It does not cover topics such as eating, drinking, local attractions, places to stay, or making friends with the locals, as most basic travel guides for the area already provide adequate coverage of these topics.

Why Point to Translate instead of Phonetic?

The standard phonetic system for transcribing Mandarin is pinyin. However, pronouncing pinyin is very tricky. Consider the phrase, “I’m eating a goose.” The pinyin transcription is “wǒ chī é”, but the pronunciation is closer to “whua chee uh” - and that doesn’t even consider the complication of tonality. Thus, a verbal phrase-book style translation is not effective without at least a few hours of pinyin pronunciation training.

Fortunately, written Chinese is standardized, even across 10 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen China’s hundreds of regional dialects. Therefore, pointing at written translations is effective at communicating with anyone in China, even to people who speak a dialect other than Mandarin.

Using the Guide

The book is designed around enabling fast real-time interaction with locals. Translations are organized by component type or scenario, and the spiral binding allows the book to be easily left open to that page, so both parties can view the bilingual phrases with ease. The binding also allows the book to accommodate the extra thickness of business cards, which may be placed in the included pouches for quick access. The pouches are interleaved among several copies of a market map, allowing business cards (which are primarily printed in Chinese) to be easily matched with map annotations. This simplifies the problem of remembering a vendor’s location for repeat business.

It’s generally recommended to bring printed specification drawings to the market, especially when sourcing switches, connectors, and other components with complex or arbitrary dimensions. While the vendors cannot speak English, most can read enough English characters to interpret a mechanical drawing. Each plastic business card holder sheet also has a larger pouch meant for storing folded up specification drawings.

The tabs along the edge enable fast navigation between sections, and the elastic band on the back functions as a bookmark for quick access. All the pages can be torn out for easy sharing with friends and suppliers.

Finally, this book never runs out of batteries, and is compatible with the most popular API in the market - printed name card, receipts, and drawings. It loads instantly bunnie 11 no matter where you are - the Great Firewall of China can’t filter it. You actually own your copy of this book - unlike software, it’s not licensed to you via a click-through EULA that robs you of all your fair use rights. It also can’t be infected with malware, has no pop-up ads, and will never upload confidential notes about pricing, sources, and vendors to the cloud. Your data is your data!

About Technical Chinese

As my friend Gavin Zhao once quipped, Chinese is a wonderful language for poetry, but difficult for precise technical communications. Fans of Randall Munroe’s XKCD may have seen the “Up-Goer Five” blueprint comic (http:// xkcd.com/1133/), where complex technical concepts are explained using only the “ten hundred” most common English words. Considering that 98% of Chinese is covered with only 2,500 characters, and there are only 7,000 “general use” characters, most technical terms in Chinese have to be decomposed into idioms that are reminiscent of the Up- Goer Five scenario.

For example, a resistor is 电阻, which means “electric obstructor”, capacitor is 电容, which means “electric container”, and a computer is 电脑, which means “electric brain”. On the other hand, some concepts have names which are simply phonetic loan words with no meaning, such as the Schottky diode: 效特基二极管. The first three characters are “xiào tè jī” (sounds like “shao tuh gee”), which sound somewhat like “Schottky” but the characters mean “resembles particular basis/foundation”; clearly phonetic but no meaning. The last three characters mean “two-pole tube”, which does make some sense. And then there are the pronunciation subtleties, such as 芯片号, “xīn piàn hào” (which means an “IC’s part number” (literally “core flat item’s number”), which with misplaced accents sounds like 性偏好, “xìng piān hào” which means “sexual 12 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen preference”. No native speaker would ever mispronounce or confuse the two, but a foreigner going up to a local asking “What’s your chip’s part number?” could be heard as “What’s your sexual preference?” if mispronounced and taken out of context.

Even Mandarin speakers find it challenging to communicate certain technical terms. Different idioms are used, for example, between Taiwan and Shenzhen. There are other differences across China depending upon the dialect and context: academics will typically use more formal and technically rigorous terms than a market trader or even an engineer. For example, in the market the descriptive term 三 级管 (‘three-pole tube’) is sometimes used for a transistor, instead of the academically accepted 晶体管 (‘crystal tube’). Both of these could refer to a “metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor” (MOSFET), but there’s no uniform system for abbreviating 金属-氧化物-半导体型场效应管 (that’s Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor spelled out in Chinese characters). In this case, market traders will often fall back to using English acronyms or some local slang to refer to a given part.

For this book, I’ve worked with my Chinese friends to produce translations that are targeted at the vernacular of traders in the Hua Qiang electronics market (of which many are from the city of Chaozhou (潮州市), and so speak a common dialect). If you do happen to find any errors or have suggestions for improvements, please send a note to [email protected].

What’s in the Market (And What’s Not)

The Shenzhen electronics market is an amazing resource, but it’s not the be-all and end-all for sourcing electronic parts. As a general rule, if it’s not already in a product sold at Walmart, it’s probably not in this market. For example, bunnie 13 it’s hard to find analytical-grade sensors for quantities like pH, radiation and air quality. The selection of FPGAs is pretty dismal, and it’s not actually a great place to find microcontrollers – at least, not the types that Western- trained designers typically use. China has its own ecosystem of low-cost microcontrollers that are more popular with the locals. Also, given that the district sprang out of the ground in the 90’s, old or rare parts are hard to find, such as vacuum tubes or certain models of JFETs favored by elite audio engineers. For sourcing specialty parts, Taobao (taobao.com is China’s amalgamation of Amazon.com with eBay.com) is probably a better option than searching the physical markets.

On the other hand, the market is brimming with parts found in any major mobile phone produced within the past decade. There are shelves loaded with cables, connectors, crystals, LEDs, diodes, transistors, resistors and capacitors. Generally, I find the market to be most effective for the following activities:

• Sourcing “jellybean” parts (e.g., capacitors, resistors, and parts with non-critical specifications) • Finding cost-down alternatives to expensive switches and connectors – if there isn’t an exact replacement, there’s likely a functional equivalent at a tenth the price • Building an intuition for what’s hot on the market • Getting inspiration for making new products and finding new business opportunities

The market is also heavily skewed toward electronics; there are some electromechanical components such as relays and motors, but not much. Instead, there are other districts and malls in the region (within a 2-hour drive of Shenzhen) that specialize in products ranging from plastics and textiles, to motors and factory automation, to CNC and lasercutting services. There’s even a district that specializes in art 14 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen supplies and bespoke oil paintings.

Pricing the Market and Haggling

What is the fair market price for a component? Generally, the Hua Qiang electronics district is a “professional” market, which means that there’s relatively little bargaining to do over price. This is a markedly different experience from the “tourist” markets in Shenzhen, such as the mall near the Luohu border crossing where typically the initial bid is 5x or 10x over the final price.

Vendors at the Hua Qiang electronics district are mostly factories trying to connect with volume buyers; the representatives at the booths don’t find sport in haggling (although tourism is starting to change the market’s character). Instead of ripping off tourists, they are looking for long-term revenue streams from repeat buyers. Thus, the initial ask is typically reasonable, and usually the best way to improve pricing is to increase the volume, or at least portray the appearance or promise of higher volumes. Serious-looking buyers will often receive initial samples for free, especially for relatively inexpensive components.

Bargaining may be a fruitful venture when purchasing tools for the lab bench, as the standard mark-ups reflect the cost of single-unit purchases. However, don’t expect to halve prices with aggressive bargaining; this just annoys the vendor as it’s a waste of time and effort to sell quality products with no margin. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is – that memory stick probably doesn’t have half the memory it advertises, or that phone is probably second- hand or flawed in some way.

Still, there is some variation in cost for similar components, as some factories simply have a more competitive cost structure, or certain models of products are much more bunnie 15 popular and thus produced in higher volumes. The good news is there are many vendors crammed into a tiny space, so don’t be afraid to inquire at several shops about their pricing. After four or five inquiries one can develop a fairly good intuition of what the median price should be for a given commodity.

Is it Fake?

First, “fake” is not an all-or-nothing concept. Is an iPhone no longer an iPhone if it has a small scratch on the back? Of course, it’s still an iPhone; and for an appropriate discount, you’d likely be perfectly happy to buy it. But Apple wouldn’t sell it, and thus it’s a reject unit that has to be refurbished or scrapped. On the other hand, a flip phone with an Apple logo on the back is not a “fake iPhone”, just as a human wearing cat-ears and a tail isn’t a “fake cat”; it’s a human dressing up as a cat (or more pedantically, a human in the “trade- dress” of a cat).

Here’s a list of things to consider when evaluating if a product meets your needs. It’s fairly long, so each bullet is a glyph that grades the potential performance impact of each practice assuming the buyer is unaware it’s happening. In cases with full awareness, one can mitigate any negative impact while getting a good deal by either implementing a strong incoming material test program or by simply trading off quality for cost on non-critical parts.

Component performance risk legend:  serious impact  likely serious impact  likely no impact  little or no impact

 Sometimes components are genuine but are partial reels not suitable for wholesale in Western markets, or 16 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen the reel may be short a few percent of the parts that it claims to have (so the reel might claim to contain 10,000 resistors, but actually has 9,900).  Sometimes components are genuine, but have date codes over one or two years old. Because of strict inventory control policies in the largest manufacturers, these otherwise perfectly good components are sold as scrap. The date codes are then sometimes modified to be within a year old.  Sometimes components are genuine, but are remainders from a large production run that didn’t use up all the parts that were ordered, and are thus sold as scrap.  Sometimes components are from “ghost shifts”, where the exact production line that’s used to make authorized product is run a bit longer to produce an extra lot (but perhaps without the same level of testing or quality control), which is then resold as brand-authorized product.  (for jellybean parts)  (everything else) Sometimes components are made by a local Chinese factory, but relabeled with the brand of more famous/reputable foreign manufacturers. This is particularly common on jellybean parts like resistors, capacitors and batteries, where the quality of the Chinese version is virtually indistinguishable from the foreign version. This is also done sometimes to offset import taxes or to pass tax audits.  Sometimes sub-assemblies or modules that are made for brand-name products are sold directly by the sub- contractor, which means it’s authentic quality and function but the factory might (or might not) be in breach of contract with the brand.  Sometimes components are of a lower spec, but labeled as higher. This is particularly common in FLASH bunnie 17 memory, batteries, or any product that features multiple grades in identical casing (e.g. phones with different internal storage capacities). I also suspect this happens in capacitor and resistor tolerances and tempcos, but I haven’t done a rigorous study to confirm the suspicion.  Sometimes components are rejects from a factory, but sold as full-spec. Sometimes they are also refurbished to a like-new state, but without the factory’s authorization. These are tricky to catch.  Sometimes components are recycled and refurbished to be sold like new. This is particularly common among mobile phone parts and pieces. Apple introduced component-level serial numbers and associated DRM in part to combat the practice of Frankensteining phones, where several old broken phones are gutted and the good parts combined into a “new” phone.  Sometimes components are pre-production prototypes, but are being sold as production grade parts. Keep an eye out for notices similar to “prototype not for sale” or “engineering sample” printed on the part.  Particularly in consumer goods, brands and trademarks are copied and put on items that clearly have nothing to do with the brand’s authorized products. In many cases, this practice has an almost satirical effect and is extremely easy to spot. When aware of the practice, it’s a  (low impact) event; but if somehow the buyer is gullible enough to be fooled by the false trademark, it’s definitely a bad deal.  Particularly in consumer goods, sometimes the packaging is fancy but the product just sucks, is shoddily manufactured, lacks firmware QA/integration, or is not well-tested before shipping. You get what you pay for, caveat emptor. 18 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen  Sometimes everything is genuine and on the up-and- up, but the agreed upon price is different from the price actually transacted in cash. This is done typically to either avoid taxes or to create inflated invoices which are passed on for reimbursement, effectively improving the middleman’s margin. This practice doesn’t impact the quality of the goods, but the negotiated discount is typically not passed on to the ultimate consumer or the person issuing the reimbursement for the purchase.  Sometimes there are outright fakes, where someone has gone through the trouble of trying to copy the process, design, and firmware of a brand product and produce something that looks and functions exactly like the original but sells for less. But with so many other options, this is a lot of work for very little reward and thus is not so common.

Hours & When to Go

Regardless of the posted hours, the markets are pretty empty before 10AM. Stalls at lower traffic areas will likely be shuttered. Things start hopping around 11AM, and most of the markets are forced to close by around 6PM. A few of the busier markets prop their doors open and continue to do business after-hours, but building managers strongly discourage the practice by turning off most of the ceiling lights and the air conditioning at the posted closing time.

The Chinese take their holidays very seriously. When planning a trip, be sure to consult the Internet for a list of China’s public holidays. It’s best to avoid going anytime within a couple weeks of the official Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The exact date of the festival changes every year because it’s synchronized to a lunar calendar, but tends to be in late January or early February. The other bunnie 19 major holiday where most businesses close for an extended period is the National Day holiday week, which occurs first week of October.

Internet & Helpful Apps

As a general rule, the Internet as you know it is blocked in China. There’s no access to Google services, Facebook, Twitter, Imgur, YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, Telegram, etc. etc. As a consolation, there’s Bing. Roaming data service will bypass the firewall since roaming phones are assigned an IP address from the home country of the subscriber’s carrier, but it’s an expensive option. Prices vary depending upon the carrier, but currently T-mobile offers one of the lowest cost international roaming data plans. A VPN is a cheaper way to get around the firewall, but depending upon the political climate even VPNs can be blocked. China’s firewall routers have the ability to do deep packet inspection and thus can automatically discover VPN connections running on unconventional ports or with other small modifications intended to bypass less sophisticated firewalls.

This means you probably cannot rely upon your favorite cloud-based translation service, and your default mapping application probably won’t work. You probably won’t be able to install new apps. More importantly, you’re not going to be able to access that important presentation or demo video you stored in the cloud.

So before going, I recommend downloading any critical data and storing it locally on your laptop. I also recommend installing Pleco (available on both Google Play and Apple Store), which is an off-line capable translation app that I’ve found to be well worth the price. I also hesitantly recommend installing Baidu maps. It’s basically malware, so uninstall it upon leaving China, but it will at least provide a mapping app that works well in China and won’t suffer 20 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen from mandatory GPS offsets or forced service outages at the most inconvenient times. Finally, most locals use Wechat to keep in touch, so even though that app is also a memory and battery hog, and it doesn’t respect privacy settings, it’s handy to have. In an ideal world, you’d have an unlocked phone for use only in China, and a phone you use everywhere else.

Smartphone users will want to temporarily disable all services that might try to synchronize with blacklisted servers outside of China. Otherwise, the phone will run down its battery quickly because these services will keep the phone and radio awake whilst desperately trying to contact servers that will never respond.

Tipping

There is no tipping in China. Service fees are inclusive, except at places like massage parlors.

Weather & Dressing

The fashion in Shenzhen is decidedly “business practical”. In other words, it’s what is comfortable for the weather conditions outside without looking like a slob. Many factories, as well as stores and offices outside of the city core will not have temperature-controlled environments. Without air conditioning or heat, comfort trumps fashion as the weather can go from hot and muggy in the summer, to clammy and damp in the winter. It also gets quite rainy in between the two.

For men, ties or suits are uncommon – even in business settings, a polo or collared shirt is more than sufficient, along with jeans or nice slacks. I personally wear nothing bunnie 21 other than T-shirts and shorts year round, and have rarely encountered a situation where I felt out of place or underdressed.

For women, my best advice is to wear comfortable shoes; you’ll do a lot of walking. I’m no expert on women’s fashion, but generally styles trend toward slightly conservative. Low- cut V-necks and tank tops aren’t common in the office; if they are worn, it’s typically with an additional layer on the outside. Short miniskirts are less common in the office, although daisy dukes seem to be more acceptable. Colorful and patterned is okay; it’s not like Japan where anything other than black screams tourist or rebel.

Evening-wear does get classier and more fun, particularly in foreigner-friendly club and bar districts. Men will don collars and leather shoes, and women seem to gain a couple inches in height and lose a couple inches on the neck lines and even more on skirt length. Despite this, I still go to most clubs and pubs in my shorts and T-shirt, and there’s still enough other folks dressed like me that I’m not too out of place. However, beware that the most trendy clubs may have dress codes. 22 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 23

Point-to-Translate Guide: Components Components 24 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen (8.2) (9.1) (7.5) 7.15 7.87 7.68 7.32 9.76 9.31 8.87 6.81 9.53 8.45 8.66 8.06 6.98 7.50 7.50 8.25 9.09 (5.6) (4.7) (6.2) 5.76 5.11 4.87 6.65 6.34 6.49 5.90 6.04 5.49 5.23 5.36 4.99 4.64 6.19 6.19 5.62 4.75 (4.3) (3.9) (3.3) 3.74 3.16 3.57 3.24 4.12 4.42 4.53 4.22 4.02 3.83 3.65 3.48 3.40 4.32 3.92 3.32 (2.7) (2.2) (3.0) (2.4) 2.74 2.15 2.87 2.61 2.94 3.09 2.80 2.55 2.43 2.49 2.26 2.32 2.37 2.37 3.01 3.01 2.21 2.21 2.67 (2.0) (1.8) (1.6) (1.5) 1.74 1.47 2.10 1.91 1.87 1.96 1.78 1.65 1.69 1.58 1.54 2.05 2.00 1.82 1.82 1.62 1.62 1.50 1.50 (1.3) (1.0) (1.2) (1.1) 1.07 1.15 1.37 1.13 1.18 1.27 1.24 1.40 1.43 1.33 1.05 1.02 1.10 1.21 1.21 1.30 1.30 1.00 1.00 (5%) standard values. (5%) standard K ōu M 欧 千欧 兆欧 毫欧 háo ōu Ohm E24 qiān ōu zhào ōu m (milli) (1%) and E96 Table of Table When engineering reference. for This is provided will Vendors them down. write specifying values, “K” and “M”. “m” is much the prefixes understand to recommended it’s and therefore rare more of 10mOhm. as e.g. “0.01” instead out values write bunnie 25 finest 最好的 通用的 zuì hǎo de tōng yòng de zuì pián yí de 最便宜的 cheapest general use general 有现货的 yǒu xiàn huò de 什么都可以 shén me dōu kě yǐ anything is OK what’s in stock what’s 凹面 āo miàn concave 1ppm 5ppm 10ppm 25ppm 50ppm 100ppm 500ppm 1000ppm tempco 随便 (any) 温度系数 wēn dù xì shù 凸面 tū miàn convex táo cí 炭膜 陶瓷 tàn mó jīn shǔ bó 金属箔 ceramic metal film metal carbon film carbon 总线式 bussed zǒng xiàn shì bó mó 成分 厚膜 薄膜 绕线 hòu mó rào xiàn chéng fèn Note: SMT case sizes are on page 31. sizes are SMT case Note: thin film gé lí thick film 隔离 wirewound composition isolated 贴片式 tiē piàn shì surface mount surface 1W 2W 5W 0.1W 0.5W 功率 0.05W 0.16W 0.25W gōng lǜ wattage 插件式 1% 5% chā jiàn shì 10% 20% diàn zǔ qì 0.1% 0.5% 容差 róng chà 电阻器网络,阵列 电阻器 resistor network resistor 随便 (any) through-hole diàn zǔ qì wǎng luò, zhèn liè tolerance 详情 封装 其他 Resistors - Resistors SPECS MOUNTING OTHER 26 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen 1.5 2.7 4.7 8.2 1.2 1.2 2.2 3.9 6.8 pí [kě] 皮[可] p (pico) 1.0 1.0 1.8 3.3 5.6 nà [nuò] 纳[诺] n (nano) wēi 微 μ (micro) 毫 háo milli fǎlā (10%) standard values. (10%) standard 法拉 farad E12 Table of Table When engineering reference. for This is provided will Vendors them down. write specifying values, “μ”, “n”, and “p”. the prefixes understand bunnie 27 ） ESR 低ESL （低 low ESL low genuine low ESR low 工作温度 原装正品 关键描述 什么品牌? 注解：倒置结构 shén me pǐn pái gōng zuò wēn dù temp range temp critical spec critical guān jiàn miáo shù what brand? other terms yuán zhuāng zhèng pǐn 低等效串联电阻 Y5V X7S Z5U X5R X7R C0G,NP0 tempco 温度系数 wēn dù xì shù mó zhì 模制 molded bó mó 薄膜 云母 mica yún mǔ thin film dipped 保形涂层 bǎo xíng tú céng lǚ disc tǎn 钽 铝 圆盘 táo cí yuán pán 陶瓷 ceramic 介电材料 Note: SMT case sizes are on page 31. sizes are SMT case Note: tantalum dielectric jiè diàn cái liào aluminum 贴片式 tiē piàn shì surface mount surface 轴向 axial 4V 10V 16V 25V 50V 2.5V 6.3V zhóu xiàng 高压(HV) voltage diàn yā-é dìng 电压-额定 diàn róng qì 插件式 电容器 1% 5% chā jiàn shì 1pF 10% 20% 径向 0.1pF 0.5pF 容差 radial 0.25pF jìng xiàng róng chà through-hole tolerance 详情 封装 类型 Capacitors - SPECS MOUNTING STYLE 28 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 29 zǐ 紫 zǐ wài purple 紫外 ultraviolet lán 蓝 blue 大功率 dà gōng lǜ 带圆顶 domed dài yuán dǐng high power 红外 hóng wài infrared 水蓝 aqua 贴片式 shuǐ lán tiē piàn shì surface mount surface 平头 快闪 píng tóu kuài shǎn flat top lǜ 绿 fast flash fast green 短脚 duǎn jiǎo 黄 huáng LED 灯带 LED dēng dài LED tape yellow short leads 慢闪 màn shǎn 无色透明 slow flash slow wú sè tòu míng 双色 crystal clear crystal shuāng sè hǔ pò two-color 琥珀 amber 共阴 gòng yīn 长脚 cháng jiǎo 单闪 橙 dān shǎn chéng long leads long misty orange common cathode common self-flashing 雾状/ 散射 wù zhuàng / sǎn shè qī cǎi RGB 七彩 红 hóng red 共阳 高亮 gāo liàng 插件式 gòng yáng 透明 chā jiàn shì clear tòu míng bái 白 pink 粉红 super-bright through-hole white fěn hóng common anode common guāng èr jí guǎn 光二极管 LED - 颜色 COLOR 透镜样式 封装 其他 LENS MOUNTING OTHER 30 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 31 0510 0816 1220 1632 2037 2075 2550 3245 3264 5176 公制 gōng zhì Metric 倒置结构 dào zhì jié gòu 0204 0306 0508 0612 0815 0830 1020 1218 1225 2030 英制 yīng zhì Wide Construction Imperial fēng zhuāng dà xiǎo 封装大小 0402 0603 1005 1608 2012 3216 3225 4532 5025 6332 6032 7343 公制 gōng zhì Metric 0201 0402 0603 0805 1206 1210 1812 2010 2512 英制 01005 yīng zhì C-case D-case Imperial SMT Case Sizes - 32 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 33 lǜ bō qì filter 滤波器 容差 róng chà 完全相同 金属合成物 tolerance jīn shǔ hé chéng wù exact match exact wán quán xiāng tóng metal composite metal 饱和电流 bǎo hé diàn liú air 空气 cè shì pín lǜ saturation current saturation kōng qì 测试频率 test frequency test tiě xiāng sì jiù kě yǐ 铁 相似就可以 iron similar is OK DC-DC 转换器 DC-DC zhuǎn huàn qì DC-DC converter 无屏蔽 wú píng bì 网上规格书 SRF wǎng shàng guī gé shū unshielded online datasheet 自谐振频率 zì xié zhèn pín lǜ tiě yǎng tǐ ferrite 铁氧体 贴片式 tiē piàn shì 屏蔽 píng bì 额定电流 é dìng diàn liú shielded surface mount surface rated current rated táo cí 陶瓷 规格书 guī gé shū 高频 gāo pín datasheet ceramic ān bèi 安培 amps high frequency 插件式 chā jiàn shì 高电流 gāo diàn liú 绕线 rào xiàn catalog 产品目录 through-hole high current chǎn pǐn mù lù 高Q gāo Q wirewound high Q DCR DC diàn zǔ DC电阻 diàn gǎn qì 电感器 阻抗 zǔ kàng 选择指南 cí xīn cái liào 磁芯材料 xuǎn zé zhǐ nán tiě yǎng tǐ cí zhū 功率电感器 铁氧体磁珠 ferrite bead ferrite gōng lǜ diàn gǎn qì 射频电感器 RF inductor impedance core material core shè pín diàn gǎn qì power inductor power selection guide selection 参数 材料 Inductors - SPECS MATERIAL 其他 OTHER 34 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 35 LED 发光二极管 fā guāng èr jí guǎn 平均整流电流 完全相同 average current average píng jūn zhěng liú diàn exact match exact wán quán xiāng tóng 高电流 gāo diàn liú 标准二极管 high current biāo zhǔn èr jí guǎn Market traders are not engineers. Don’t expect Don’t expect not engineers. are traders Market details much about the technical know them to with a part number in come to Best of a product. than a description. hand, rather xiāng sì jiù kě yǐ 相似就可以 similar is OK general purpose diode general 高电压 gāo diàn yā 封装 high voltage fēng zhuāng package 桥式整流器 开关二极管 kāi guān èr jí guǎn qiáo shì zhěng liú qì bridge rectifier switching diode switching online datasheet 下载规格书的网站 r xià zài guī gé shū de wǎng zhàn V 电流 diàn liú current 最大反向电压 guī 硅 zuì dà fǎn xiàng diàn yā silicon ESD diode 瞬态抑制二极管 TVS二极管 整流二极管 规格书 guī gé shū zhěng liú èr jí guǎn rectifier diode rectifier datasheet f 锗 zhě V er jí guǎn 正向电压 catalog germanium 反向漏电流 商品目录 Schottky shāng pǐn mù lù 二极管 zhèng xiàng diàn yā fǎn xiàng lòu diàn liú 稳压二极管 wěn yā èr jí guǎn Zener diode xiào tè jī èr jí guǎn reverse leakage reverse 肖特基二极管 参数 SPECS 类型 材料 Diodes - TYPES MATERIAL 其他 OTHER 36 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 37 Market traders are not are traders Market them to Don’t expect engineers. much about the technical know come to Best product. of a details with a part number in hand, than a description. rather are Some of the terms as English “translated” In many cases acronyms. basically are transistors by their English classified acronyms. show to helpful still it’s However, Mandarin because the letters the English pronounce speakers native from alphabet differently English speakers. P-沟道 P-gōu dào P-channel dá lín dùn 达林顿 Darlington N-沟道 N-gōu dào N-channel PNP PNP 网上规格书 JFET wǎng shàng guī gé shū online datasheet 结型场效应管 阵列 zhèn liè Array NPN NPN jié xíng chǎng xiào yìng guǎn 完全相同 exact match exact wán quán xiāng tóng MOSFET 双 规格书 guī gé shū Dual shuāng datasheet jīng tǐ guǎn 晶体管 FET BJT 金属-氧化物-半导体型场效应管 单 dān 场效应晶体管 双极性晶体管 Single xiāng sì jiù kě yǐ 相似就可以 catalog chǎng xiào yìng jīng tǐ guǎn jīn shǔ - yǎng huà wù bàn dǎo tǐ xíng chǎng xiào yìng guǎn shuāng jí xìng jīng tǐ guǎn similar is OK 产品目录 chǎn pǐn mù lù 类型 Transistors - Transistors TYPES 其他 OTHER 38 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 39 顶插 dǐng chā top entry top mí nǐ USB 迷你USB miniUSB 芯片插座 IC socket xīn piàn chā zuò 排针母插口 pái zhēn mǔ chā kǒu pèi tào lián jiē qì 配套连接器 直角 zhí jiǎo female pin header female mating connector 微型USB right angle wéi xíng USB microUSB FPC 同轴 柔性电路板 tóng zhóu coaxial róu xìng diàn lù bǎn female 高度 gāo dù cè chā 侧插 母插/母头 mǔ chā/mǔ tóu height 双排 shuāng pái dual row side entry 卡边缘 内存卡 nèi cún kǎ kǎ biān yuán card edge card male memory card 单排 pān pái 方向 公插/公头 fāng xiàng gōng chā/gōng tóu zǔ hé gāo dù 组合高度 single row single orientation mated height mated 圆形 yuán xíng circular 插座 排数 pái shù chā zuò socket DIMM # rows Connectors are a challenge to describe in any language. Thus, it is recommended to bring to recommended is it Thus, language. any in describe to challenge a are Connectors the market. to of the connector samples or preferably drawings technical 外径 存储模块插座 wài jìng cún chú mó kuài chā zuò 表面贴装 jǔ xíng 矩形 biǎo miàn tiē zhuāng surface mount surface outer diameter outer jack 脚数 插孔 rectangular jiǎo shù chā kǒng lián jiē qì pin count side with holes 连接器 内径 通孔 nèi jìng tōng kǒng 排针 pái zhēn jiān jù 间距 插头 套管-电源用 plug chā tóu pitch barrel (power) barrel through hole through pin header side with pins tào guǎn-diàn yuán yòng inner diameter 参数 Connectors - 类型 TYPE SPECS 40 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen CPT DLC 中华映管 东芝 三菱 元太 E Ink sān líng yuán tài dé ’ěr xī dōng zhī 德尔西 Toshiba zhōng huá yìng guǎn Mitsubishi LG LG xià pǔ KOE BOE 天马 夏普 日立 tiān mǎ Sharp 京东方 Tianma rì lì / hitachi jīng dōng fāng jīng cí AUO 群创 京瓷 三星 友达 yǒu dá sān xīng Innolux qún chuàng Kyocera 瀚宇彩晶 Hannstar Samsung hàn yǔ cǎi jīng A few of the most prolific panel makers and panel makers prolific of the most A few below. listed their Chinese names are Wide aspect resolutions 800x480 WVGA 1024x600 WSVGA HD720 1280x720 1280x768 WXGA 1280x800 1366x768 FWXGA 1440x900 WXGA+ 1440x960 FWXGA+ HD+ 1600x900 1680x1050 WSXGA+ HD1080 1920x1080 1920x1200 WUXGA UWHD 2560x1080 QHD 2560x1440 3440x1440 UWQHD UHD 3840x2160 4K 4096x2160 4:3 aspect resolutions 320x200 CGA 320x240 QVGA 640x480 VGA 768x576 PAL 800x600 SVGA 1024x768 XGA 1152x864 XGA+ 1280x1024 SXGA 1400x1050 SXGA+ 1600x1200 UXGA 2048x1536 QXGA 2560x1600 WQXGA 2560x2048 QSXGA For engineering reference, tables of common resolutions are are resolutions of common tables engineering reference, For don’t know many panel vendors Significantly, below. provided and the make selling (just are of the panels they the resolution or may be met with confusion model), so inquiries on resolution blank stares. bunnie 41 B级 A级 次品 A-级 A+级 旧屏 等级 新屏 děng jí jiù píng xīn píng (rejects) grade recycled brand new brand 型号 xíng hào model 请帮忙测试一下 please help test please qǐng bāng máng cè shì yī xià Most vendors will have a will have vendors Most available generator pattern testing. for 镜面 shiny jìng miàn pǐn pái 品牌 make IPS IPS optical/IR 平面转换 红外线式触摸屏 hóng wài xiàn shì chù mō píng 雾面 wù miàn cǎi sè 彩色 anti-glare 控制芯片 full color kòng zhì xīn piàn controller IC controller 显示屏 screens duì bǐ dù xiǎn shì píng 对比度 LC cell LC yè jīng bō lí 液晶玻璃 contrast ratio contrast resistive 电阻式触摸屏 单色 dān sè diàn zǔ shì chù mō píng bias IC 背光电路 面板 驱动芯片 miàn bǎn bèi guāng diàn lù panels qū dòng xīn piàn ppi monochrome backlight driver EPD 点距 diàn zǐ zhǐ 电子纸 也稱像素间距 synonyms: 也稱: 竖屏 captouch 亮度 shù píng liàng dù 电容触摸屏 portrait connector diàn róng chù mō pín OLED duān zǐ / lián jiē qì brightness 端子/连接器 分辨率 fēn biàn lǜ OLED píng OLED屏 resolution xiǎn shì qì 显示器 横屏 背光 LCD 尺寸 héng píng 触摸屏 chǐ cùn bèi guāng chù mō píng 液晶屏 yè jīng píng 信号接口 interface landscape backlight xìn hào jiē kǒu diagonal touchpanel 参数 Displays - 类型 TYPE SPECS 42 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 43 机箱 case jī xiāng 镜面 shiny jìng miàn 电源 diàn yuán power supply power 散热膏 sàn rè gāo fan 风扇 fēng shàn 雾面 wù miàn heat sink paste anti-glare 电缆 diàn lǎn cable 高端 gāo duān high end netbook 上网本电脑 sàn rè qì USB jiē kǒu IPS IPS USB接口 散热器 USB port 平面转换 heat sink shàng wǎng běn diàn nǎo mí nǐ USB 迷你USB miniUSB rù mén jí 入门级 entry level sì hé 四核 串行端口 duì bǐ dù serial port 对比度 ultrabook quad-core 超极本电脑 chuàn xíng duān kǒu chāo jí běn diàn nǎo 微型USB wéi xíng USB contrast ratio contrast microUSB resistive 电阻式触 diàn zǔ shì chù SD kǎ SD卡 ppi SD card 点距 SSD 单核 dān hé laptop 也稱像素间距 固态硬盘 gùtài yìng pán 笔记本电脑 bǐ jì běn diàn nǎo single-core captouch 电容式触 diàn róng shì chù 闪存盘 diàn nǎo líng jiàn shǎn cún pán USB stick 分辨率 电脑零件 fēn biàn lǜ 硬盘 resolution yìng pán hard disk hard 双核 shuāng hé 台式电脑 dual-core tái shì diàn nǎo desktop PC desktop 亮度 liàng dù 鼠标 shǔ biāo 尺寸 mouse chǐ cùn brightness diagonal 内存(条) CPU nèi cún (tiáo) 主板 zhǔ bǎn RAM (stick) 键盘 背光 LCD jiàn pán bèi guāng 液晶屏 中央处理器 yè jīng píng keyboard backlight zhōng yāng chǔ lǐ qì motherboard Computer Parts - Computer Parts 44 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 45

Point-to-Translate Guide: Tools & Tooling Tools & Tooling Tools 46 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 47 保护电路 bǎo hù diàn lù protection circuit protection xī biān dài 吸锡编带 desoldering braid zhí chǐ lǐ lí zǐ diàn chí 直尺 ruler 锂离子电池 铜带 tóng dài lithium ion battery copper tape copper flux zhù hàn jì 助焊剂 电池 diàn chí battery 数显卡尺 shù xiǎn kǎ chǐ 有铅 digital calipers digital 剥线钳 yǒu qiān bō xiàn qián with lead 电池充电器 wire strippers wire diàn chí chōng qì battery charger battery cí tiě 磁铁 magnet kǎ chǐ 卡尺 calipers 无铅 wú qiān lead free lead 剪钳 jiǎn qián wire cutters wire 放大镜 fàng dà jìng hàn xí 焊锡 power strip power 示波镜 shì bō jìng (几插)延长线 solder (jǐ chā) yán cháng xiàn oscilloscope magnifying lens qián zi 钳子 pliers gōng jù 工具 lào tiě 烙铁 niè zi 镊子 万用表 显微镜 test jig test cè shì zhì jù xiǎn wéi jìng 测试治具 wàn yòng biǎo tweezers multimeter microscope soldering iron Tools - Tools 48 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 49 把手 knob bǎ shǒu hex socket cap socket hex 圆柱头内六角头 yuán zhù tóu nèi liù jiǎo 轴 zhóu shaft

滑动开关 slide switch huá dòng kāi guān iPhone luó sī 五角星头 pentalobular 半圆头 bàn yuán tóu button head button 消隙螺母 xiāo xì luó mǔ torx 梅花头 méi huā tou anti-backlash nut 摇臂开关 yáo bì kāi guān rocker switch rocker 圆柱头 yuán zhù tóu yī zì tóu socket cap socket 一字头 slotted 套管 jī xiè tào guǎn 垫圈 bushing diàn quān washer 平头 píng tóu shí zì tóu 触动开关 十字头 phillips nut flat head tact switch tact 螺母 luó mǔ chù dòng kāi guān gōng jù sī gǎn 丝杆 工具 & 机械 leadscrew bolt 螺栓 luó shuān screw 螺丝钉 luó sī dīng sì fú qì servo 按钮开关 伺服器 àn niǔ kāi guān pushbutton drill 钻头 zuàn tóu mǎ dá luó sī dāo 马达 开关 螺丝刀 kāi guān motor switch 扳手 bān shǒu wrench screwdriver Tools & Mechanical - Tools 50 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 51 铜 tóng copper mù tàn 木 碳 wood carbon 碳纤维 tàn xiān wéi 青铜 carbon fiber carbon qīng tóng bronze bó 铂 涂装 tú zhuāng platinum painting gè 铬 bō li xiān wéi 玻璃纤维 chrome fiberglass yín 银 silver 胶水 glue tài 钛 jiāo shuǐ 粉末涂料 fěn mò tú liào titanium jīn powder coating powder 金 gold lǚ diàn jiě 铝电解 强力胶 qiáng lì jiāo superglue 无铅 不锈钢 阳极氧化 wú qiān 硬板 bù xiù gāng yìng bǎn yáng jí yǎng huà anodization aluminum electrolytic lead-free rigid PCB stainless steel stainless tǎn 钽 钢 epoxy 铅 gāng 电镀 diàn dù qiān 软板 steel lead 环氧树脂 ruǎn bǎn plating tantalum flex PCB flex huán yǎng shù zhī cái zhì 材质 lǚ 铝 xī 锡 táo cí tin PCB sù jiāo 陶瓷 塑胶 电路板 plastic diàn lù bǎn ceramic aluminum 表面处理 FINISHING Materials - 52 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 53 sprue 主流道 zhǔ liú dào 刮花 guā huā scratch rè liú dào 热流道 hot runner 变形 biàn xíng 拉模铸造 lā mó zhù zào die casting warpage 分流道 fēn liú dào runner qì wén 气纹 吨位 dùn wèi flow line flow tonnage gate 入水口 rù shuǐ kǒu 分模线 fēn mó xiàn knit line 分型线 抛光处理 fēn xíng xiàn pāo guāng chǔ lǐ satin finish parting line 斜顶 lifter xié dǐng zhù sù mó 缩水 模胚 mó pēi suō shuǐ 滑块 注塑模 huá kuài 颜色错误 镜面加工 slider yán sè cuò wù sink mark mold base jìng miàn jiā gōng wrong color wrong mirror finish mirror mó jù 变色 顶针 模具 biàn sè dǐng zhēn 顶针印 bá mó xié dù dǐng zhēn yìn 拔模斜度 ejector pin ejector tool / mold tool draft angle draft ejector mark ejector discoloration Injection Molding - 常见不良 常用术语 DEFECTS COMMON TERMS 其他 OTHER 54 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 55

Point-to-Translate Guide: Sealing the Deal Sealing the Deal 56 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 57 shorter? 更短一点？ 更强的？ gèng duǎn yī diǎn? stronger? gèng qiáng de? 带定位销的？ dài dìng wèi xiāo de? longer? slower? 更慢的？ gèng màn de? 更长一点？ with alignment pins? gèng zhǎng yīdiǎn? taller? faster? 更快的？ gèng kuài de? 更高一点？ gèng gāo yī diǎn? 带通孔插脚？ dài tōng kǒng chā jiǎo? thicker? thinner? 更厚一点？ 更薄一点？ gèng hòu yī diǎn? gèng báo yī diǎn? with through hole pins? hole with through bigger? lighter? 更轻的？ gèng qīng de? gèng dà yī diǎn? 更大一点？ 带有表面贴片信号线，但是是直插件？ dài yǒu biǎo miàn tiē piàn xìn hào xiàn, dàn shì zhí chā jiàn? in machine-assembly (reel/tube/tray) packaging? (reel/tube/tray) in machine-assembly 用于机器组装的包装方式（如卷状/管状/托盘包装）？ 表面贴片？ biǎo miàn tiē piàn? heavier? 更重的？ smaller? with surface mount signal wires, but through hole mounting feet? hole but through mount signal wires, with surface gèng zhòng de? 更小一点？ with surface mount feet? with surface yòng yú jī qì zǔ zhuāng de bāo fāng shì (rú juàn / guǎn zhuàng tuō pán zhuāng)? gèng xiǎo yī diǎn? This sample is almost right, but I need something different. 这个样品基本上是我想要的，但是我还有一些不同的要求。 Do you have something like this but... Do you have something like 你有类似这个的产品吗，但是…… 58 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 59 bù tóng de yán sè? 不同的颜色？ in a different color? in a different 包装盒？ bāo zhuāng hé? in a retail box? in a retail 电池寿命更长的？ longer battery life? battery longer 带有欧规电源插头？ diàn chí shòu mìng gèng zhǎng de? dài yǒu ōu guī diàn yuán chā tóu? with an EU-style plug? with an EU-style gèng àn de? 更暗的？ dimmer? 质量更好的？ zhì liàng gèng hǎo de? higher quality? wú zì shǎn de? 无自闪的？ 带有美规电源插头？ without self-blinking? with a US-style plug? with a US-style dài yǒu měi guī diàn yuán chā tóu? 更亮的？ brighter? gèng liàng de? cheaper? gèng pián yí de? 更便宜的？ yǒu zì shān de? 有自闪的？ 有现货的? yǒu xiàn huò de 用于110V电压？ 电流更高的？ with self-blinking? diàn liú gèng gāo de? for use with 110V? for in stock now? in stock yòng yú yāo líng diàn yā? higher current? This sample is almost right, but I need something different. 这个样品基本上是我想要的，但是我还有一些不同的要求。 Do you have something like this but... Do you have something like 你有类似这个的产品吗，但是…… 60 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 61 tray 盘装 pán zhuāng 泡沫包装 cushioning 需要时间 xū yào shí jiān pào mò bāo zhuāng tiē zhǐ 贴纸 label It will take a while It will take 管装 tube gānzào jì 干燥剂 guǎn zhuāng desiccant 不可能 bù kě néng 胶带 jiāo dài It’s not possible It’s packing tape 散装 bulk ESD bag 防静电袋 sǎn zhuāng fáng jìng diàn dài 真空密封 dài zi bag 需要生产 袋子 zhēn kōng mì fēng vacuum seal vacuum xū yào shēng chǎn 散带装 cut tape The factory can make more make can The factory sàn dài zhuāng 箱子 xiāng zi shipping box 包装 bāo zhuāng 没现货 méi xiàn huò 卷带装 用胶带做一个手柄 hé zi 盒子 No inventory juǎn dài zhuāng yòng jiāo dài zuò yī gè shǒu bǐng tape and reel tape retail box retail make a handle out of tape a handle make Packaging - Packaging 62 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 63 bù kě yǐ 不可以 Not possible kě yǐ 可以 Possible rèn hé kěyǐ yòng de 任何可以用的 如果我买多点会有折扣吗? bù 不 No I’ll take anything I’ll take rú guǒ wǒ mǎi duō diǎn huì yǒu zhé kòu ma? If I buy more is there a discount? is there If I buy more nǐ kě yǐ wéi wǒ dìng zhì zhè ge ma? 你可以为我订制这个吗？ Yes shì de 是的 你们有工厂吗？ nǐ men yǒu gōng chǎng ma? Can you make this custom for me? for this custom make Can you Are you the manufacturer? you Are gěi wǒ zuì piányí de 给我最便宜的 cǎi gòu dìng huò 采购&订货 我能拿一个样品吗？ wǒ néng ná yī gè yàng pǐn ma? 零售 Retail líng shòu I’m looking for your cheapest your for I’m looking Can I have a sample please? a sample Can I have 这是二手的吗? zhè shì èr shǒu de ma? 你可以提供更多的吗? nǐ kě yǐ tí gōng gèng duō de ma? Is this refurbished? Can you produce more? produce Can you pī fā 批发 Wholesale 给我最好的质量 gěi wǒ zuì hǎo de zhì liàng What is the MOQ? 这店是 最少订货量是多少？ zhè jiàn shì Is this part EOL? 这是新的库存吗? zhè shì xīn de kù cún ma? Is this new stock? Is this new I’m looking for top quality top for I’m looking 这个已经停产了吗? zuì shǎo dìng huò liàng shì duō shǎo? This store is This store zhè ge yǐ jīng tíng chǎn le ma? Purchasing & Ordering - & Ordering Purchasing 64 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 65 下个月 xià gè yuè next month next xīng qí rì 星期日 Sunday xià gè xīng qí 下个星期 next week next 要多长时间？ yào duō cháng shí jiān? How long will it take? long How xīng qí liù 星期六 Saturday nǐ de QQ shì duō shǎo? 你的QQ是多少？ What is your QQ? What is your 后天 hòu tiān wǒ shì fǒu xū yào liú xià yā jīn? 我是否需要留下押金? Friday 星期五 xīng qí wǔ day after tmrw day after Do I need to leave a deposit? leave Do I need to 我在半个小时之内回来拿这些东西 wǒ zài bàn gè xiǎo shí zhī nèi huí lái ná zhè xiē dōng xī I’ll be back in a half hour to pick up the items I’ll be back in a half hour to 明天 míng tiān xīng qí sì 星期四 Thursday tomorrow nǐ de wéi xìn shì shén me? 你的微信是什么？ What is your Wechat? What is your kě yǐ chū huò dào zhè ge dì zhǐ ma? 可以出货到这个地址吗？ Can you ship to this address? ship to Can you jīn tiān 今天 today 星期三 xīng qí sān Wednesday xīng qí èr 星期二 Tuesday chū huò 出货 现在在市场上有库存吗？ 运费要多少钱？ yùn fèi yào duō shǎo qián? 你的手机号是多少？ xiàn zài shì chǎng shàng yǒu kù cún ma? nǐ de shǒu jī hào shì duō shǎo? xīng qí yī 星期一 Monday It should arrive by... It should arrive How much for shipping? much for How 这要在…抵达 (收货时间) zhè yào zài…dǐ dá (shōu huò shí jiān) Do you have stock here in the market? here stock have Do you What is your phone number? What is your Shipping - 66 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 67

Point-to-Translate Guide: Getting Around Getting Around 68 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 69 请给我发票 qǐng gěi wǒ fā piào 请送我到罗湖口岸 请送我到福田口岸 请送我到皇岗口岸 请送我到深圳机场 qǐng sòng wǒ dào luō hú kǒu àn qǐng sòng wǒ dào fú tián kǒu àn qǐng sòng wǒ dào shēn zhèn jī chǎng qǐng sòng wǒ dào huáng gàng kǒu àn Please give me a receipt. give Please Take me to the Shenzhen Airport me to Take Take me to Luohu border crossing Luohu border me to Take Take me to Futian border crossing border Futian me to Take Take me to Huanggang border crossing Huanggang border me to Take The blue colored taxis are electric, and are not and are electric, are taxis The blue colored will taxis colored The red a gas tax. subject to a gas cover to the fare RMB to on a couple tack a any doubts, ask for have If you that varies. tax the driver which forces receipt, piao”, or tax “fa charges. any extra justify to - dā chéng chū zū chē 搭乘出租车 请给我这酒店的名片 请送我到赛格广场 请送我到购物公园 qǐng gěi wǒ zhè jiǔ diàn de míng piàn Take me to SEG plaza me to Take Take me to Coco Park Coco me to Take 请送我到华强广场酒店 qǐng sòng wǒ dào gòu wù gōng yuán qǐng sòng wǒ dào sài gé guǎng chǎng qǐng sòng wǒ dào huá qiáng guǎng chǎng jiǔ diàn Take me to Hua Qiang Plaza Hotel me to Take Please give me the hotel’s business card business me the hotel’s give Please Taking a Taxi - a Taxi Taking Before leaving the hotel, ask the concierge ask the concierge the hotel, leaving Before a taxi this to Show name card. the hotel’s for can drivers taxi get back. In general, to driver bad English. Many also have not speak or read driving) so try to from farsighted (very eyesight in a big font. with the address get a card 70 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 71 In recent years, the Shenzhen metro has developed to cover most most cover to has developed the Shenzhen metro years, In recent Hua are market the electronics for stops The best of the city core. line, and Hua Qiang North on the Luobao (green) Qiang station line. (orange) on the Shekou station the take to faster typically it’s during rush hour, crowded Although drive. than to metro exits, stops, indicate English signage to has adequate The metro ask are to questions two so perhaps the only and entrances, get a pre-paid to and “where station”, metro is the nearest “where card”. metro comes about 100RMB, and it typically will cost card A pre-paid fancy depending on how The amount varies with an initial balance. The initial credit. with zero may come cards is - vanity the card one-time use tokens machines for it: vending worth is well card use. to and slow fussy and are and 5 RMB notes, coins only take and add value machines that can automated have stations Most cards. on metro check balance dā chéng dì tiě 搭乘地铁 zuì jìn de dì tiě zhàn zài nǎ lǐ? 最近的地铁站在哪里？ 在哪里可以购买深圳通？ zài nǎ lǐ kě yǐ gòu mǎi shēn zhèn tōng? Where can I buy a SZ metro card? I buy a SZ metro can Where Where is the nearest metro station? metro is the nearest Where Taking the Metro - the Metro Taking 72 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 73 我的手机锁住了 wǒ de shǒu jī suǒ zhù le My phone is locked. I need data and voice. I need data 我需要至少1G的上网流量 Can you unlock my phone? unlock Can you 请问可以帮我把手机解锁吗？ qǐng wèn kě yǐ bāng wǒ bǎ shǒu jī jiě suǒ ma? 我需要带通话功能和上网流量的 我不知道我的手机是否已经解锁 wǒ xū yào zhì shǎo yī G de shàng wǎng liú liàng wǒ bù zhī dào de shǒu jī shì fǒu yǐ jīng jiě suǒ I only need data, not voice. need data, I only I need a plan with at least 1G of data. I need a plan with at least I don’t know if my phone is unlocked. I don’t know wǒ xū yào dài tōng huà gōng néng hé shàng wǎng liú liàng de wǒ de shǒu jī yǐ jīng jiě suǒ 我的手机已经解锁 我只需要上网流量，不需要带通话功能的 My phone is unlocked. wǒ zhǐ xū yào shàng wǎng liú liàng, bù dài tōng huà gōng néng de mǎi shǒu jī hào 买手机号 我呆在这里不会超过1周 zài nǎ lǐ kě yǐ mǎi dào shǒu jī hào mǎ? 在哪里可以买到手机号码? 我呆在这里不会超过1个月 wǒ dāi zài zhè lǐ bù huì chāo guò yī zhōu wǒ dāi zài zhè lǐ bù huì chāo guò yī gè yuè 我只需要在深圳用这张手机号 I will be here less than 1 week. less I will be here I will be here less than 1 month. less I will be here I will only use the SIM in Shenzhen. I will only wǒ zhǐ xū yào zài shēn zhèn yòng zhè zhāng shǒu jī hào I need a SIM that can work in SZ and HK. work I need a SIM that can 我需要一个在整个中国都可以用的手机号 我需要一个在深圳和香港都可以用的手机号 I need a SIM that can work all over China. all over work I need a SIM that can wǒ xū yào yī gè zài zhěng zhōng guó dū kě yǐ yòng de shǒu jī hào wǒ xū yào yīgè zài shēn zhèn hé xiāng gǎng dū kěyǐ yòng de shǒu jī hào Where can I buy a prepaid SIM card with data? SIM card I buy a prepaid can Where Buying a SIM Card - Buying a SIM Card 74 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 75 There are many strategies for getting SIM cards, getting SIM cards, for many strategies are There in English-speaking HK that buying cards from or China buying China Mobile in SZ, to work used China Unicom only I’ve cards. Unicom the after At the time of writing, just myself. customs, clearing after crossing Border Futian booth selling is an official China Unicom there has English speaking staff. that usually cards outside or SIM cards cards When buying top-up the or test activate to be sure of official stores, who sold the card. of the person in front product not honor will typically dealer the leaving, After not unheard and it’s or exchanges, any refunds (e.g. 50 RMB cards or relabelled find fake of to 100RMB, 100 MB plans sold up to marked cards as 3GB plans, etc.). complex have the plans often Unfortunately off-peak usage, special such as peak vs. rules, options, service activating in for text to codes that change dynamically and billing rates difficult even in. It’s depending on the city you’re rules up with the complex keep to locals for the since plans. Fortunately, most to attached the to any liability is limited pre-paid, are cards up top can and you on the card, value stored anytime. wèi shǒu jī hào mǎ chōng zhí 为手机号码充值 请问可以帮我的手机卡充值吗？ Can I buy a pre-paid top up card? top Can I buy a pre-paid 请问我可以买一张手机充值卡吗？ What number do I text to check my balance? to What number do I text qǐng wèn kě yǐ bāng wǒ de shǒu jī kǎ chōng zhí ma? qǐng wèn wǒ kě yǐ mǎi yī zhāng shǒu jī chōng zhí kǎ ma? Can you help me activate the high speed data plan? the high speed data help me activate Can you 请问可以帮我把这张手机卡开通4G上网流量套餐吗？ What number do I call to top up the phone? top to What number do I call 请问通过拨打哪个号码可以进行手机卡充值？ Pre-paid high speed data SIM cards are available in China, available are SIM cards high speed data Pre-paid GSM phone. Unfortunately be used with an unlocked which can prior to carrier so check with your locked, US phones are most phone. your about unlocking travel 请问发送编辑什么信息可以查询到我的手机卡上的余额？ Can you help me top up the balance on my SIM? up the balance help me top Can you qǐng wèn tōng guò bō dǎ nǎ ge hào mǎ kě yǐ jìn xíng shǒu jī kǎ chōng zhí? qǐng wèn fā sòng biān jí shén me xìn xī kě yǐ chá xún dào wǒ de shǒu jī kǎ shàng yú é? qǐng wèn kěyǐ bāng wǒ bǎ zhè zhāng shǒu jī kǎ kāi tōng 4G shàng wǎng liú liàng tào cān ma? Topping up your SIM - Topping 76 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 77 kā fēi 咖啡 coffee 瓶装水 我想要... wǒ xiǎng yào... 苏打水 sū dǎ shuǐ píng zhuāng shuǐ pí jiǔ 茶 chá tea 啤酒 beer bottled water bottled May I have a.... May I have soda drink 我想要冰冻啤酒 wǒ xiǎng yào bīng dòng pí jiǔ I’d like my beer cold. I’d like Can I have ice to put in my beer? to ice Can I have qǐng wèn kě yǐ gěi wǒ yī xiē bīng kuài fàng jìn pí jiǔ lǐ ma? 请问可以给我一些冰块放进啤酒里吗？ 我不能吃辣 wǒ bù néng chī là 请问你能把空调开大一点吗？ 我能吃辣 wǒ néng chī là qǐng wèn nǐ néng bǎ kōng diào kāi dà yī diǎn ma? I cannot eat spicy. I cannot Can you please turn up the aircon? please Can you I can eat spicy. I can kě yǐ gěi wǒ shōu jù ma? 可以给我收据吗？ kě yǐ gěi wǒ gàn zhǐ jīn ma? Can I have napkins? Can I have 我会点你推荐的食物 可以给我干纸巾吗？ wǒ huì diǎn nǐ tuī jiàn de shí wù Can I have a receipt? Can I have 请问你有英文的菜单吗？ 请问你有带图片的菜单吗？ qǐng wèn nǐ yǒu yīng wén de cài dān ma? qǐng wèn nǐ yǒu dài tú piàn de cài dān ma? Can I have the check please? Can I have Do you have an English menu? have Do you 请问可以把帐单给我看一下吗？ qǐng wèn kě yǐ bǎ zhàng dān gěi wǒ kàn yī xià ma? Do you have a menu with pictures? have Do you I’ll order whatever you recommend. you whatever I’ll order A Few Survival Phrases: Input Survival Phrases: A Few 78 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 79 Those with strict or picky diets would do best not to leave leave not to do best or picky diets would Those with strict will eat anything, and they Locals districts. the tourist It with guests. their delicious heritage share want to a force ways to find creative good sport to might seem like but it can upon the locals, perspective particular cultural or rude. off as impolite come particularly also be challenging, Hygiene in China can toilets; squatting prefer Locals districts. tourist the outside be unsanitary. seats to toilet consider they a paper, so carry toilet also don’t stock bathrooms Local The plumbing is also be safe. to around of tissues packet paper is tossed buildings, so used toilet bad in most quite be flushed. and not to the toilet, to in a bin next (if toilets at the sink outside local found Soap is rarely of with a bottle travel is a sink). It doesn’t hurt to there revenge, Montezuma’s avoid hand sanitizer at all times. To the perhaps go for food: that in mind when ordering keep salad? the raw over vegetables cooked nǚ 女 Women’s qǐng wèn kě yǐ gěi wǒ yī xiē zhǐ jīn ma? 请问可以给我一些纸巾吗？ Where is the toilet? Where 请问哪里有洗手间？ qǐng wèn nǎ li yǒu xǐ shǒu jiān? 男 nán May I have some toilet paper? some toilet May I have Is there a Western-style toilet? a Western-style Is there Men’s 请问这里有带西式马桶的厕所吗？ qǐng wèn zhè li yǒu dài xī shì mǎ tǒng de cè suǒ ma? A Few Survival Phrases: Output Survival Phrases: A Few 80 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 81 The general rule in China is that cash is king. in China is that cash rule The general if it’s - even in cash pay everything Expect to of goods. Don’t worth thousands of dollars is small of currency that inch-thick pile worry, old ladies are what the little to compared the US, China doesn’t Also, unlike carrying. about so nobody worries civil forfeiture, have they because simply seizing cash the police stack. packing a fat are foreign- no need for have locals most Since don’t be changers, or money ATMs card one where know surprised if nobody seems to is. to and malls that cater districts are There but they cards, credit will take They foreigners. upscale. be pricier and more to also tend 请问你接受万事达信用卡吗？ qǐng wèn nǐ jiē shòu wàn shì dá xìn yòng kǎ ma? Can you accept Mastercard credit cards? credit Mastercard accept Can you 这里只接受现金 zhè lǐ zhǐ jiē shòu xiàn jīn 这里只接受中国的银行卡 zhè lǐ zhǐ jiē shòu zhōng guó de yín háng kǎ This place only accepts cash. accepts only This place Is there a money changer nearby? a money Is there 请问你接受维萨信用卡吗？ 这个自动取款机只接受中国的银行卡 zhè lǐ fù jìn yǒu méi kě yǐ duì huàn wài bì dì fāng? qǐng wèn nǐ jiē shòu wéi sà xìn yòng kǎ ma? 这里附近有没有可以兑换外币的地方？ We can only accept Chinese bank cards. accept only can We This ATM only works with Chinese cards. works only This ATM 这里附近有没有可以用外国银行卡的自动取款机？ Can you accept Visa credit cards? Visa credit accept Can you zhè ge zì dòng qǔ kuǎn jī zhǐ jiē shòu zhōng guó de yín háng kǎ Is there an ATM that accepts foreign cards nearby? cards foreign that accepts an ATM Is there zhè lǐ fù jìn yǒu méi kě yǐ yòng wài guó yín háng kǎ de zì dòng qǔ kuǎn jī? Money 82 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 83

Getting To Shenzhen, and Back Again There & Back 84 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen Visas

Many nationalities need a visa to enter China, including Americans. Don’t rely on getting a visa on arrival – I’ve heard reports of people having to wait days in Hong Kong while their visas are processed. However, the rules are constantly in flux, so check the Internet and mind the date on the article. If the advice is more than a year or two old, question its validity.

The most recent and very significant development for Americans is the availability of 10-year multiple-entry visas to visit China. It’s recommended to apply for a 10-year visa even if the intention is to visit just once; it costs almost the same as the shorter-term visas and it’s unclear if and when the 10-year visa option will be terminated.

It’s also recommended to apply through a visa processing agent instead of directly to the Chinese consulate. Most agents seem to have a special relationship with the consulate that often allow the normally strict requirements for showing itineraries, tickets, and hotel reservations to be bent. The convenience is well worth their nominal markup on the visa cost.

The other important thing to note is that even though the primary purpose for going to China may be to visit markets and factories for “business reasons”, that’s still technically a “tourist” activity. So apply for a tourist visa, as it’s a much easier process than a business visa. A business visa is needed to operate or incorporate a new company in China. Simply inspecting, buying and exporting goods or subcontracting an existing Chinese factory is classified as a tourist type of activity.

APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) holders whose countries honor visa reciprocity with China may enter China visa-free. bunnie 85 Notably, the US does not honor visa reciprocity under the ABTC program, and thus Americans who hold an ABTC must still apply for a visa to enter China.

Getting to the Border

Most first-time overseas travelers coming from the West will arrive via Hong Kong airport, which is still about 40km (25 miles) to the Shenzhen border. Although Shenzhen has its own international airport (which is a 45 minute, 100RMB+ cab ride to the electronics markets), it has fewer long-haul international flights compared to Hong Kong’s airport. Meanwhile, there are numerous options for getting to Shenzhen from Hong Kong’s airport, ranging from ferries to busses to taxis.

Hong Kong airport has a ferry to Shekou, a port city on the west side of Shenzhen. As the electronics markets are in the centrally-located Futian district, Shekou is a 45 minute, 100 RMB+ cab ride away and thus the ferry is not recommended.

Land transportation options from Hong Kong airport to the Shenzhen border include bus, train, shared ride van (aspirationally referred to as a limousine), and taxis.

Bus is by far the cheapest option, at around HK$30, but can take several hours with unlucky transfer timing. Heavy rail takes about the same time (2.5 hours), involves several transfers, and costs around HK$130 all told. Neither option is recommended unless one is very tight on money or the itinerary already involves a stop in Hong Kong city prior to crossing the Shenzhen border.

For direct transfers, shared ride vans are much faster, and about the same cost compared to rail options. After leaving baggage claim in Hong Kong airport, follow signs for “Transport to Mainland China” on the lower level. The 86 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen shared ride vans cost about HK$150 (cash only), and will take around 40 minutes to get to the Huanggang border crossing.

On the downside, it’s a rough experience, especially after spending 12 hours in an airplane. The shared ride van operators are pushy and brusque, and they will delay van departures until they’ve packed the van to optimize revenue. The seats are small, especially for people with Western- sized frames, and frequently the van has at least one passenger shouting into a phone the entire ride, or playing video games with the volume cranked all the way up.

The other major downside is that border crossing is done as a cohort; if one person has a visa issue or triggers a customs audit, everyone in the van has to wait together, and everyone in the van has to do the customs audit. For those on a tight schedule, it’s a game of Russian roulette.

The fastest and most reliable method to get to the border from Hong Kong airport is via taxi. The teal-colored “New Territories” taxis will complete the trip in about 30-40 minutes. The fare will be around HK$310-320 once tolls and baggage charges are factored in. Note the taxis may only take cash or Octopus card (a kind stored value payment card popular in Hong Kong). Fortunately, there are several ATMs in Hong Kong airport’s arrival lobby that operate with foreign bank cards.

For a group of two or more people, it’s a no-brainer to take the taxi over the shared ride van – it’s the same cost, if not cheaper and much more pleasant and reliable.

The taxi experience from Hong Kong airport to the Shenzhen border is so smooth that I typically register a 1-hour prepaid data package once the plane’s wheels touch down on the runway, and 90% of the time I’m into the border crossing bunnie 87 just as the package expires.

Which Border Crossing to Use?

Land transportation services can take passengers to any of the three major Hong Kong - Shenzhen border crossings: Futian, Huanggang, and Luohu. Here are the pros and cons of each.

Futian Huanggang Luohu Hours 06:30-22:30 24-hour 06:30-24:00

Transit method Foot Vehicle Foot via Sheung HK-side taxi   Shui Station Lok Ma Chau Lo Wu HK-side subway Station Station via Sheung HK-side bus limited  Shui Station

HK airport van 

SZ-side taxi   

Futian Checkpoint Luohu SZ-side subway Station Station

SZ-side high speed rail 

SZ-side bus   

My personal favorite border crossing is the Futian border crossing, particularly for exiting China. It’s frequented by locals who live on one side of the border but work on the other side, which means that rush hour can have long lines (but that’s true of all border crossings at rush hour). However, this also means the number of foreigners are fewer, and the foreigners who use it tend to have their paperwork in order so the dedicated foreigner/passport lines are more predictable and shorter. 88 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen However, it’s a walking border, which means the only option to get between the Hong Kong and China immigration checkpoints is a 100-meter walk via a covered footbridge. This means there are no cross-border shuttle services, but there are taxi and subway options available on both sides after exiting customs.

Getting from the Futian border crossing to the Hua Qiang electronics district is typically fast by taxi. However, due to a quirk in the layout of the roads, the return trip is often faster by subway. Catching a taxi on the Shenzhen side is usually a reasonable 5-10 minute wait, except near closing time, where the demand for pick-ups exceeds the supply from drop-offs. Ignore the people hustling for illegal rides and head straight for the taxi line, which is outside the main exit, to the left and behind the bus stands.

When making the return trip to Hong Kong International Airport, the Hong Kong side of the Futian crossing has both teal and red cabs that can pick up passengers destined for the airport. Use whichever line is shorter. The red cabs are not as frequent, but the teal cab line features frequent shouting matches and sometimes pushing fights as people try to cut ahead when the line gets long. Locals mercilessly cut around those who are not paying attention or are having difficulties with bulky luggage, so be aggressive and assert a spot in line.

The main downside of the Futian crossing is its limited hours, and dealing with the throngs of locals trying to take advantage of personal duty free allowances. There are some people who seem to make a living repeatedly crossing the border, carrying a couple boxes of goods at a time. Futian’s efficiency means they can go back and forth several times each day. This arbitrage opportunity exists because some items have very high duties or are in very high demand in China. The prominent banners warning of stiff penalties bunnie 89 for taking baby formula out of Hong Kong are testimony to the amount of goods these border runners can move. At the height of the melamine milk contamination crisis, the demand for Hong Kong-sourced baby formula was so high that border runners had depleted Hong Kong’s shelves of baby formula; Hong Kong mothers couldn’t feed their babies. As a result, stiff penalties were enacted for exporting excessive baby formula. Thus, the Futian border crossing is typically smoother for leaving China than entering China. For entering China during peak hours, it’s comparable to Huanggang, but in the evening and mid-day it’s faster and quieter.

My second choice is the Huanggang border crossing. The main downside of this border crossing is that the only way to get from the Hong Kong-side checkpoint to the China-side checkpoint is by motor vehicle; however, the immigration line for vehicles with passengers is often a half hour wait, and can be much longer at peak times. Passengers can exit the car and go through each immigration checkpoint on foot, but after clearing immigration they must get back into a car. It’s an odd firedrill but this is typically faster as the drivers have special passes that let them speed through the motor vehicle checkpoint. Shared ride van services don’t even bother with getting the driver across the border; instead they use one set of cars to service the Hong Kong side, and another set of cars to service the China side.

There’s also no subway or rail entrance at either side, so the only options are taxi, bus, or shared ride shuttle to get there. Because of the hybrid arrangement of driving then crossing immigration by foot, shared ride van drivers need a way to identify passengers emerging from the immigration counter. Typically this is done with a sticker bearing the vendor’s logo that is placed on passenger’s shirts at the time of ticket purchase. Display the sticker until both border checkpoints have been crossed, but don’t forget to remove it or else it 90 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen will turn into a gummy mess in the laundry.

Those not utilizing a shared ride van service can take a bus that goes between the Hong Kong and China checkpoints. On the Hong Kong side, the bus costs HK$10, and they accept Octopus card or cash. However, they don’t give change, and they are very strict about that rule. I’ve seen unprepared foreigners forced to drop HK$100 into the hopper and no change given. Best to bring an Octopus card, if one is available.

My least preferred border crossing is Luohu. It’s extremely busy, the foreigner lines are longer, and it’s farther than either Futian or Huanggang from the electronics market. The Hong Kong side is also exclusively a rail terminal; bus and taxi access is one stop away at Sheung Shui. It’s also a bit seedy, so be on guard for petty theft when navigating its hallways. The primary advantage of Luohu is that the China side connects directly to the high speed rail terminal, enabling a fast transfer to Dongguang or Guangzhou.

Tourists frequent Luohu because of the huge mall on the China side of the border crossing. This mall is famous for “improbably cheap” brand-name clothes and handbags, and for inexpensive custom-tailored garments. However, vendors routinely attempt to overcharge patrons, and aggressive haggling is required to get a reasonable price. Haggling is literally a contact sport in this mall - vendors and shoppers are known to grab and slap each other when bargaining gets really heated - so if it feels too easy getting awesome deals in the Hua Qiang electronics district, go to Luohu for an afternoon and enter the shopping jungle.

Time-Saving Tips for Crossing the Border

Your passport is checked twice when going between Hong Kong and China: once by the Hong Kong authorities, and bunnie 91 once by the China authorities. When you find yourself being dropped off by a shuttle or driver after just one check, it means you’re to cross the next check by foot, typically with your luggage in tow. This is typically done to save time, as certain border checks are much faster by foot than by car.

The China side requires a yellow immigration form to be filled out before approaching a customs officer. Although the immigration halls are meant to have forms stocked throughout, the kiosks farther from the officer’s desks tend to run empty. Thus, frequent travelers will stash a couple extra copies of the yellow immigration forms in their bags. This saves time hunting for the yellow forms when they run out.

The Hong Kong side also requires an immigration form. However, users registered in the e-channel frequent visitor program can skip filling out these forms, and can also use specially marked automated clearance lines. Visitors planning to enter Hong Kong more than a couple times a year will find the e-channel registration well worth the price. There are enrollment booths in Hong Kong airport right after immigration but before baggage claim, and they are only open during normal business hours.

China Customs

China customs will X-ray baggage both entering and exiting China.

When entering China, customs officers are mostly looking in bags to enforce duties and to prevent smuggling. There’s a compulsory duty on any electronic parts being brought into China, so don’t carry reels or trays of parts - at least not without declaring them. Carrying more than one laptop is also a red flag, as the import of laptops is heavily taxed and thus a popular item for smuggling. Be particularly 92 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen wary of carrying multiple laptops into China that are in mint condition, or worse yet retail-boxed. These will be flagged as items intended for resale and levied a non-refundable duty of around 20% of the original purchase value, even if the items are intended strictly for personal use.

On the way out of China, it’s typically duty-free to export reasonable quantities of electronic goods. However, customs is cracking down on the exportation of “fake” goods. They will seize any goods that improperly use trademarked brands (so trying to export those cute iPhone- branded Android devices can lead to trouble), and they may interrogate about who makes the products you’re bringing out. If they are made by your factory, carry a business card, as I’ve been asked in the past to show proof that I work with or own a hardware manufacturing business bearing the trademark of the goods I’m trying to export. bunnie 93 我需要黄色的移民申请表 wǒ xū yào huáng sè de yí mín shēn qǐng biǎo 请问在哪里可以坐车去香港机场? I need a yellow immigration form immigration I need a yellow Where is the shuttle to HK Airport? to is the shuttle Where qǐng wèn zài nǎ lǐ kě yǐ zuò chē qù xiāng gǎng jī chǎng? 请送我到福田口岸 请送我到罗湖口岸 请送我到皇岗口岸 请送我到深圳机场 qǐng sòng wǒ dào fú tián kǒu àn qǐng sòng wǒ dào luō hú kǒu àn qǐng sòng wǒ dào shēn zhèn jī chǎng qǐng sòng wǒ dào huáng gàng kǒu àn Take me to the Shenzhen Airport me to Take Take me to Luohu border crossing Luohu border me to Take Take me to Futian border crossing border Futian me to Take Take me to Huanggang border crossing Huanggang border me to Take Getting to the Border Getting 94 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 95

Maps Maps 96 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 97 Maps of the Hua Qiang District

1 2 3

Exit C Exit B

(Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) Zhenhua Road 振华路

Exit A Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 (under construction) Zhonghang Road 中航路 Huafabei Road 华发北路 4 500m 5 7 6

Exit A Exit B Shennan Road 深南路 (Hua Qiang Metro - green) Exit D Exit C 8 9 10

This section is divided into two parts. The first part is a brief field guide to the market. This guide divides the market into 10 blocks, and touches on the highlights of each block. The second part consists of multiple blank copies of the map. Behind each map is a plastic insert for holding business cards, receipts, datasheets and technical drawings.

Returning to a vendor’s stall can be a formidable challenge, given the dearth of English signage. Use the point-to-translate phrases printed on each copy of the map to acquire a business card, and to ask the vendor to mark their stall on the map. This will help you find them again, should you need to buy more products in the future. Once in the correct building, the stalls are numbered using roman numerals and characters; be sure to jot down the stall number if it’s not already printed on the business card.

The pages can be torn out for easy sharing with friends and suppliers.

Please note that Huaqiangbei road is in the process of being converted from a bustling road into a more pedestrian-friendly plaza, and in the process almost every building facing the road is undergoing significant remodeling. As a result, some details within this section may be out of date. 1 2 3

98 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen

Exit C Exit B

(Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) Zhenhua Road 振华路

Exit A Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 (under construction) 5E 5A Huafabei Road 华发北路 Zhonghang Road 中航路 6E 6F

4 6D 500m 5 5B 7 6 6C 6B 5D 6A 4A 5C Exit A Exit B Shennan Road 深南路 (Hua Qiang Metro - green) Exit D Exit C Sectors 4, 5 and 6 form the market core. Broadly speaking,8 most of sector 5 is concerned with the sale 9of electronic 10 components. Covered passageways make it seem as if all the buildings run together into a giant mega-mall, a kind of walk-in DigiKey for over-the-counter parts sales. Most of the buildings have upper floors where prices tend to get better (with the top floors of the International LED market being a notable exception). Sector 6 is anchored by SEG plaza (6A) in the southwest. Most of the stores on the northwest side of sector 6 sell more consumer-oriented goods, from mobile phones to professional audio equipment. Stores on the east side of sector 6 tend to specialize more in mobile phone accessories - power banks, chargers, memory sticks, cables, etc. Right in the middle of sector 6 are a couple of malls specializing in security and surveillance cameras, as well as numerous resources for shipping goods. Sector 4 contains several household and conventional strip-mall style retail shops, with a smattering of restaurants. It’s a decent area to hunt for a sit-down restaurant if you want a bite to eat a bit away from the hustle and bustle of the market core. Here are some highlights of the area. 6A is the iconic SEG plaza (赛格广场). Octagonal in shape with twin spires, it’s a great landmark. First two floors are electronic components; upper floors are consumer products and retail goods. bunnie 99 6B this market specializes in batteries, power banks, and FLASH memory drives. It’s the first market on the left heading north from Shennan Road on Huafabei road. The entrance is just before the first 7-11. 6C is the smart wearables market. A relative newcomer to the market, it is stocked with all kinds of gadgets meant to be worn, from smartwatches to health monitors to music-playing glasses. 6D & 6E are markets selling surveillance gear, such as CCTV and IP cameras, and security products such as fingerprint readers and other access control systems. There’s also a smattering of GoPro clones and accessories. 6F is nicknamed “shipping alley”. It’s lined with counter services from domestic shipping companies, as well as brokers that aggregate international shipments into bulk air freight containers. These brokers offer deeply discounted rates with the trade-off of a less certain time window for delivery. One can also buy all manner of boxes, packing tape, etc. for preparing shipments. 5A is the Hua Qiang Plaza Hotel (华强广场酒店). Its distinctive marquise shape and height also make it a great landmark. A solid place to stay when visiting the market. There is a Starbucks on the ground floor. 5B is the International LED market. The 5th and 6th floors feature shops specializing in LED lighting of all types. The ground floor sells many kinds of components and accessories. 5C from the entrance nearest the Hua Qiang metro exit and up the escalator to the fourth floor is an area specializing in laptops and laptop parts. At the time of writing, the complex is being remodelled, which means shops may be shuffling around. 5D is the Duhui mall. The third floor of this building has a nice collection of shops that sell tools ranging from soldering irons to BGA rework stations, as well as test equipment and cases. 5E is the Golconda building. The 3rd and 4th floors warehouse a massive inventory of overstock and second hand LCD panels. The panels typically range in the larger form factors, from 7” panels typical of automotive entertainment head units, to 50”+ panels for TVs.

There’s also a series of small food stalls that line the north side of the building which are good for a quick dumpling or a mango smoothie as a snack. 4A is the Bank of Communications (交通银行) building. The ground floor is the Century mall (世纪商场). The Century mall is a decent place to look for sit-down restaurants in an air conditioned and more Western-feeling environment. At the lower west corner of sector 4 (just off the map) lies the Shanghai Hotel (上海兵官). Most taxi drivers are familiar with this location and it has one of the easiest names for English-only speakers to pronounce (“shanghai bing gwan”). 1 2 3

Exit C Exit B

(Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) Zhenhua Road 振华路

Exit A Huaqiangbei Road

100 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen Huafabei Road 华发北路 Zhonghang Road 中航路

4 华强北路 (under construction) 500m 5 7 6

Exit A Exit B Shennan Road 深南路 (Hua Qiang Metro - green) Exit D 9A 10A Exit C 8A 8 9 10

South of Shennan road lies a series of massive markets that specialize in mobile phone components.

10A is a massive mobile phone and parts market. The corner is marked by a 24-hour McDonalds, and just behind it on Huafabei road is an escalator that leads up into the belly of the beast. The south side of the building has open-air balconies, along which lie numerous test equipment and repair jig vendors. The second and third floors are packed from wall to wall with vendors who sell all manners of spare parts for phones (primarily iPhones), ranging from LCD screens to microprocessors, from buttons to batteries, from SIM cards to SD cards. There are also multiple vendors who can repair a phone’s broken screen as you wait and watch, but it helps to speak Chinese. Assume nothing in this market is factory-new; most items are remanufactured, refurbished, overstock, or dent-and-scratch. 9A If I were to summarize this market in one word, it’s “recycling”. Here is where mobile phones go to find an afterlife. Chips are stripped off the boards, sorted, and packed into bulk bags for other vendors to further refine, test, and repackage into tape and reel. Bags of cameras and LCDs line the stalls, to be sold by the kilogram; you can find all manner of interesting parts if you have a keen eye. This market is a Rorschach test: if your eyes glaze over and the heat and smells bother you, you’re probably not a practicing hardware engineer. The closer you are to a solder technician or practicing hardware engineer, the more you’ll notice interesting and subtle, unusual things going on in every corner of the market. 8A Exit D of the Huaqiang metro station leads directly into a subterranean market that specializes in components and spare parts for Android-powered phones. bunnie 101

1 2 3

1A 2A 2B 3A Exit C Exit B 2C

(Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) Zhenhua Road 振华路

Exit A Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 (under construction) Zhonghang Road 中航路 Huafabei Road 华发北路

4 North of Zhenhua road lies a series of markets that specialize in the wholesale 500m trade of mobile phones; even farther north lies a few shops which are somewhat7 analogous to5 US big-box retail electronics stores, selling primarily finished electronic goods for end consumers. 6

1A is a typical fashion (not electronics) mall. The basement of this area houses a number of restaurants, and is a decent hunting ground for quick sit-down meals. 2A the 2nd and 3rd floors of Yuanwang digital mall is a commodity exchange for mobile phones. Booths post lists with the current spot price of imported Exit A Exit B brand-name mobile phones, and phones are frequently traded by the dozen Shennan Road 深南路 (Hua Qiangfor Metro fat stacks - green) of cash. Hot new releases and deals can be found here. Leave the DSLR cameraExit D at the hotel before visiting; quick-reacting and aggressive Exit C security guards confiscate memory cards or force the deletion of photos 8 taken by tourists. 9 10 2B the area immediately behind the commodity exchange has a few shops specializing in the repair of mobile phones, as well as some accessories and vendors specializing in the shipping of mobile phones. 2C is the Mingtong Digital Mall. It’s a wholesale market for locally-produced phones. Here lie all manner of amusing phones, as well as some stunning reproductions of brand-name phones and second-hand phones. At the time of writing, the market is undergoing renovations which has forced the closure of about a quarter of the shops. 3A is a market specializing in tablets. The ground floor contains all manner of OEM tablets, and the floors above sell tablet sub-assemblies and parts. Specializing in wholesale trade, many vendors are amenable to putting your logo on their white-label hardware, if the order is big enough. There’s also a selection of Android TV conversion devices sprinkled throughout. 102 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 103 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 104 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 105 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 106 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 107 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 108 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 109 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 110 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 111 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 112 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 113 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 114 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 115 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 116 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 117 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 118 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 119 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 120 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 121 请给我您的名片 请标记您的货摊在这地图 对不起, 我不知道我们在哪里 May I have your business card business your May I have Sorry, I don’t know where we are. we where Sorry, I don’t know Please mark your stall on this map stall mark your Please 我现在在哪里？请指出在这张地图上 Where am I? Please point on the map. am I? Please Where

Huafabei Road 华发北路

深南路 Shennan Road Road Shennan

振华路 Zhenhua Road Road Zhenhua

Huaqiangbei Road 华强北路 Exit B Exit D Exit A Exit A

Zhonghang Road 中航路

Exit C

(Hua Qiang Metro - green) - Metro Qiang (Hua (Hua Qiang North Metro - orange) - Metro North Qiang (Hua Exit C Exit B

500m 122 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen bunnie 123

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Celia Wang, for her help with translating numerous pages of the guide, all in her spare time.

Errors in translation are most likely due to the author’s failure to understand the subtleties of the Chinese language.

Also a big thank-you to the numerous readers who contributed corrections or suggestions to this text! 124 The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen